Forward Kim Tillie sat out the limited individual workouts the Utes were allowed after they began fall semester a few weeks ago, in order to let his injured toe heal.

But the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward has been back at full speed for more than a week, and continues to impress coach Jim Boylen. "He looked good the other day," Boylen said. "Defensively, he's terrific. He's smarter than most foreign guys I've been around."

Tillie played more organized basketball than his teammates over the summer, helping his native France to a bronze medal at the Under-19 World Championships in Serbia -- he averaged 4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds -- before joining the Utes for their exhibition tour of Australia. Boylen has said he envisions Tillie as a "double-double" guy for the Utes.

Of course, he's still a kid who's susceptible to Boylen's crafty coaching.

When Tillie wasn't exploding through the end of a drill for a dunk the way Boylen wanted the other day, the coach screamed at him: "You're from France, right?!"

Tillie nodded.

"Well, that guy's from Germany!" Boylen yelled while pointing at the team manager acting as the defender in the drill. "Dunk on his head!"

And what do you know? Next time through the drill, Tillie blew through the contact the defender made with a big football blocking pad and elevated for a thunderous dunk. Boylen said it was just a matter of motivating Tillie with a scenario he would understand.

"That was great," he said later.